Westgate Academy
Known for decades as Castle Malavhan, the ancestral home of the Malavhan family, this stately castle complex is situated on a rocky bluff at the southeastern edge of the city. In 1379, the Malavhan family sold the castle and all of their Westgate holdings to the Dragonmere Alliance, and departed the region under what some have described as mysterious circumstances. Shortly after, The Dragonmere Alliance converted the complex to serve multiple functions, most of which are publicly known. While these known functions are wholly legitimate and fully operational in their own right, they also serve as a convincing cover for the Academy's secret role as the regional head offices of the Moonstars organization. Takeover by The Dragonmere Alliance The Dragonmere Alliance Trading Coaster purchased Castle Malavhan, along with all other local Malavhan family holdings, in late 1378. Even before the sale was complete, the Malavhan family had already pulled out of the city, purportedly heading west, under what some have described as "mysterious circumstances." While rumors abound, some describe the transition as simply a large-scale property sale motivated by the declining competitiveness of the Malavhan trading company. Few, however, find this explanation to be entirely convincing. For a longstanding local family, such as the Malavhans, to simply pick-up and leave the city, selling their ancestral home along with their entire stake in the Westgate market, strains credulity, and has left many unanswered questions its wake. Most believe that the Malavhan properties sale to the Dragonmere Alliance was a hostile takeover - the most hostile elements of which, for some reason, concealed from the public, and described as an amicable sale. This is the most widely-repeated explanation by far; and, despite lingering questions, it seems to satisfy most to believe that the transfer was the result of a trade war between a powerful established merchant family and a ultra-successful upstart competitor. This is corroborated by tax records which (though sealed) indicate the sale, finalized in late 1378, was for the heady sum of 3.5 million gp. Longstanding partners of the Malavhan family have, at least, been consoled by the fact that the Malavhans were handsomely compensated for their loss. A few naysayers, however, suggest that something more sinister may have been at work, claiming that the sale was secured through some form of duress. In the rare public statements issued by the Malavhans since negotiations began, the family themselves has stalwartly disavowed this notion, leading a handful of conspiracy theorists to surmise that the Dragonmere Alliance had acquired, perhaps through corporate espionage, some kind of leverage over the Malavhans that they used to press the sale. One theory is that the secret was personal, and the Malavhans chose to sell rather than have the secret publicly revealed. Others suggest that the Dragonmere Alliance was poised to release proof of decades of unscrupulous trade practices on the part of the Malavhan trading company, which may have sent their company into a downward spiral. Others still rumor that the Dragonmere Alliance uncovered proof of a Malavhan plot to assassinate the heirs of three other powerful local merchant families, and bribing city officials to rule their murders as accidents. Whatever the plot (if there ever was one), it is always painted as something so scandalous that it stood to doom the Malavhan trading company to bankruptcy, and that they were blackmailed into selling and leaving town in order to cover it up. Whatever the reason for the sale, the Dragonmere Alliance quickly set about to fill the void left by the family's departure, forging several partnerships with other local merchant families in order to placate the most vocal of their naysayers. By greasing the gears of the Westgate trade market with lucrative opportunities for other companies to share in benefits of unseating one of the cities most established families, they have effectively managed to silence most of their critics, quell the most unsavory rumors, and quash the most sinister of the conspiracy theories about their own rise to power. Continental Home Office of the Paragnostic Assembly The relationship between the Dragonmere Alliance and the Paragnostic Assembly is not well-understood by most, and until the Malavhan properties takeover, there was little outward proof of its existence. In fact, the Dragonmere Alliance is the primary revenue engine that powers the operation and recent expansion of the Paragnostic Assembly. While the two organizations are operationally separate, the Dragonmere Alliance serves as the chief patron and financial sponsor of the Paragnostic Assembly, contributing more than half of its operating budget annually, with the rest being earned through the sale of its many academic, research, and curation services. Aside from hosting their annual convention there, the Assembly has also opened a school there, called Westgate Academy, the name by which the complex is now known. Host to Westgate Academy In conjunction with the opening of the Home Office for the Paragnostic Assembly, the Dragonmere Alliance sponsored the creation of an exclusive private educational institution of secular academia, and dubbed it Westgate Academy. The Academy was officially announced in a public statement on 1 Hammer 1381 by way of a press run of ten thousand broadsheets distributed throughout the cities of the Dragonmere region (including Suzail), and selected larger cities as far afoot as Waterdeep, Baldur's Gate, and V. It matriculated its first formal class in Midsummer of the same year. Its curriculum is largely focused on secular studies of history, science, diplomacy, and mercantilism, but includes limited magical studies as well. Its philosophy is centered on the ideas of scholarly balance, claiming that the best way to prepare a student for the world is to give them training in a wide variety of disciplines. Prospective students must apply, including the submission of multiple letters of recommendation and proof of financial sponsorship. Westgate Academy is purported to be the informal "sister school" of Blackstaff Academy in Waterdeep. The schools are similar in class size, amenities, and their access to written knowledge; although, that's largely where the similarities end. While Blackstaff Academy is a long-standing, world-renowned center of Mystra-leaning magical studies, Westgate Academy is a new, little-known school of secular and non-magical studies. Their status as "sister schools" is an informal one, based solely on ties between the two schools that are not widely known or well-understood outside their own overlapping academic communities. Moonstar Regional Headquarters (RHQ) The last, and arguably the most important, purpose of Westgate Academy is to conceal the use of its host complex as the secret Regional Headquarters of the Moonstars, a somewhat recent offshoot of the Harpers dating back to 1370. Along with Blackstaff Tower, Westgate Academy is one of the two most important Regional Headquarters of the organization on the continent of Faerun. It was, in fact, a desire to establish a key headquarters for the Moonstars away from Blackstaff Academy that drove the selection of Westgate in the first place. Throughout the Moonstars' first decade of operation, the agency's high council began to question the security of Blackstaff Tower as their primary headquarters. While the tower itself has always remained physically and magically secure, its obvious association to the Blackstaffs, and (by virtue) its connection to the Moonstars, is impossible to conceal. While this close association has long offered the many benefits of its reputation, it does not lend itself well to the Moonstars' desired level of operational secrecy. Also, being located on the western coast of the continent, it is not centrally located. By 1374, in the wake of the death of its founder, the Moonstars began to realize that they needed a major operational headquarters that was both more centrally-located, far less well-known than Blackstaff Tower, and having no known connection to the Blackstaffs - and thus, no connection to all of the colorful baggage that came along with the name. At the same time, it was also decided that this new headquarters should be located in a major city, and moved into an existing building complex, rather than building something new and/or remote. In addition to the obvious access that an urban setting would give to culture, commerce, supplies, and connections, it would also allow for the crafting of "a dense and convincing web of cover stories and legitimate public operations" to artfully conceal the true secret purpose of the base. As early as 1374, Westgate had already been identified as the most likely candidate for expansion due to its location as a trade crossroads for the Sea of Fallen Starts; and in 1376, it was selected as the site of the Moonstars' future secret headquarters. These were among the most important considerations that drove the choice of Westgate, and which led directly to the Moonstar acquisition of the Malavhan properties there in 1379. Other factors that influenced its choice was the city's form of government. Being a free city and mercantile oligarchy, it was believed that the Moonstars would be able to "purchase their way into" a large, local stake in the community, and would be able to secure and expand their station through wealth alone, rather than through navigating their way into the rights and titles of the nobility - a strategy they wished to avoid, as it would, ultimately, require them to "get into bed" with a chosen royal or noble family. The Daisy Chain Since being established as a Moonstar base, Westgate Academy has been fashioned into one of the most important nodes of the expansive portal network known as the Daisy Chain. With the headquarters established there, and cover operations in place, the Moonstars finally felt comfortable doing something that had not yet been done - to create a gate that directly connected the continent of Faerun to Silver Safehold, their ultra secret extra-planar base. To date, the portal to Silver Safehold located deep in the bowels of Westgate Academy is the singular portal ever forged that connects a point on the prime material plane to the fabled fortress.